Vadodara student shines at Skills Olympics, bags bronze in industrial automation

At the recent World Skills Competition, also known as the ‘Skill Olympics’, held in France, a student from Sankarda, a remote village near Vadodara, won a bronze medal for India for the first time in the industrial automation category.

The Skill Olympics, which took place in France from September 11 to 14, included competitions in 52 different categories.

Teams from 20 different countries participated in this competition, including Dhrumil Gandhi from Vadodara, representing India, along with his partner Satyajith Balakrishnan. 

Gandhi explained that each team had to create a model where products of specific sizes would automatically be checked and defective products would be removed, using information technology and operational technology.

“"To achieve this, we first collected machine data and installed sensors and cameras to check the product sizes. We made necessary improvements to the manufacturing execution system (MES) software program,”" added Gandhi.

Gandhi mentioned that to allow the machine to be operated from anywhere outside the factory, the production and network data were sent via a cloud network using cybersecurity measures. 

“Over four days, we worked for four hours each day, monitoring the data. Based on the graphs generated from the data, we could predict when the machine might face a malfunction in the future,” said Gandhi.

A five-member jury constantly observed their performance. Based on the jury’s evaluations, the winners were announced on the fourth day.

Due to a programming error, the Indian team took a bit more time to complete the task.

India’s competitors won a total of four bronze medals, and for the first time, Gujarat’s team succeeded in winning a bronze medal in industrial automation for India. Last year, India’s team had ranked last in this same category.